Marc Tardif
Canadian | birth_date = | birth_place = Granby, QC, CAN | death_date = | death_place = | draft = 2nd overall | draft_year = 1969 | draft_team = Montreal Canadiens | wha_draft = | wha_draft_year= | wha_draft_team= | career_start = 1969 | career_end = 1983 | halloffame = | website = }} Marc Tardif (born June 12, 1949, in Granby, Quebec) is a retired Canadian professional left winger who is the leading goal scorer in the history of the World Hockey Association, principally for the Quebec Nordiques. Playing career After two fine campaigns with the Montreal Junior Canadiens of the Ontario Hockey Association, the NHL Montreal Canadiens - in the final year the team had the privilege to do so - invoked its right to select two French Canadian players first and second overall to pick Tardif in the first round, second overall, of the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft. Tardif spent most of the 1969–70 NHL season with the minor league Montreal Voyageurs, one of the leading scorers on a team studded with future NHL stars - Jude Drouin, Guy Charron, Guy Lapointe and Pete Mahovlich among them. He made the Canadiens for good the following season, playing credibly for the eventual Stanley Cup champions. 1972 was his breakout season, as he scored 31 goals. WHA years In 1973 Tardif signed with the upstart World Hockey Association, playing with the Los Angeles Sharks. He was the Sharks' leading scorer that season, and was named to play for Team Canada in the 1974 Summit Series the following fall. The Sharks, however, finished with the league's poorest record, and moved to Detroit, where Tardif played brilliantly before a trade to the Quebec Nordiques. In Quebec, Tardif became one of the league's preeminent stars. He finished the 1975 season with 50 goals, and added a league-leading ten goals in the playoffs en route to the AVCO Cup finals against the eventual champion Houston Aeros. The next season he exploded, leading the WHA in goals, assists and points by wide margins and becoming only the second professional player to score seventy goals in a single season, while the Nordiques rampaged to fifty wins. Tardif's playoff was cut short by a shocking stick attack by Calgary Cowboys goon Rick Jodzio in which he incurred serious head injuries, leading to one of the first ever cases where a hockey player was charged in a court of law for assault. The next season Tardif was named the captain of the team, and recovered to another hundred point campaign while leading the Nordiques to its only WHA championship, and followed that up in 1978 with a 154-point campaign (setting a professional hockey record eventually broken by Wayne Gretzky), for which he received his second league MVP award. Retirement He remained a star when the Nordiques joined the NHL after the WHA folded in 1979, acting as the team's first NHL captain. Tardif retired after the 1983 season, and the Nordiques retired his number #8 jersey in tribute to their first great scoring star. He finished his career scoring 316 goals and 350 assists for 666 points in the WHA, and 194 goals and 207 assists for 401 points in the NHL. He currently owns a car dealership in Quebec City. Awards and achievements * Stanley Cup Champion 1971, 1973 (with Montreal) * Avco Cup Champion 1977 * 1st in WHA history in career goals, 2nd in points, 3rd in assists, and 20th in games played. * Won WHA scoring titles in 1976 and 1978. * Won the Gordie Howe Trophy as the WHA's most valuable player in 1976 and 1978. * Named to the WHA's First All-Star Team in 1976, 1977 and 1978. * Named to the WHA's Second All-Star Team in 1975. * Played in NHL All-Star Game in 1982. External links * Category:Born in 1949 Category:Baltimore Blades players Category:Los Angeles Sharks players Category:Michigan Stags players Category:Montreal Canadiens draft picks Category:Montreal Canadiens players Category:Montreal Junior Canadiens alumni Category:Montreal Voyageurs players Category:National Hockey League first round draft picks Category:National Hockey League players with retired numbers Category:Quebec Nordiques players Category:Stanley Cup champions Category:Retired in 1983 Category:Memorial Cup winners